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Is This What Historic Change Looks Like?

by Alex Sherman | 5:40 pm, March 22nd, 2010

» 3 comments

This morning, Democrats were aflutter with the news that they had “made history” by passing a Health Care reform bill.

An email sent to me by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee began: “Last night, we made history.” The New York Times‘ coverage was peppered with the adjective “historic.”On the floor of Congress, Democrats contextualized their victory in the pantheon of their party’s great achievements, from the New Deal to the Great Society.

So when I opened the newspaper this morning to learn more about what exactly we were fighting for, I was interested to know what about this bill was truly groundbreaking: Tax breaks for middle income families. A purchasing exchange for health insurance administered by the states. Non-discrimination for individuals with “pre-existing conditions.”

Is this really what “historic” looks like?

Last week, I finally had the chance to see “11/4/08,” Jeff Deutchman’s documentary about the day Barack Obama was elected President. It was made by dozens of amateur videographers and professional filmmakers, myself included, who captured the tense hours building up to that joyous and cathartic moment when Obama was elected — strangers hugging strangers, spontaneous crowds dancing in the streets.

With his film, Deutchman aspires to ask the question: “What does history look like?” To get a sense of the answer to this question, you can check out the film’s website, 11-4-08.com, where anyone with footage from that day is encouraged to upload their clips, no matter how brief or mundane. Films contributed to Jeff by Democrats, including myself, show just how desperately we wanted to turn the page on the Bush-era. Revisiting the sense of euphoria I felt that day is an amazing experience.

As the Democrats have tried to reform the health care system over the last year and a half, I’ve wished that the exuberance of Election Day 2008 had been sustained by the President. I blamed that dimming of passions on Obama’s decision to abandon the liberal wish of universal health care. I even considered burning in effigy my metaphorical Democratic Party membership card in protest.

But today, as I read about the details of reform, I feel a mix of disappointment, shock, and pride with the outcome. How could we have lived in a society where an insurance company could deny coverage to a pregnant woman who needs a C-section operation? The status quo was so shamefully unfair it would have been arrogant not to be even a little bit happy with the compromise.

Had President Obama ushered in a single-payer system, I probably would have been dancing in the streets as I did on Election Day. But historic moments don’t usually come with fireworks as they did that night in November. Today, I’m just thrilled to know that the Democrats’ compromises ensured that our society will be a little more just than it was the day before.

Alex Sherman is a former Democratic Party political operative, writer, and filmmaker based in Los Angeles. He is currently working on an interactive documentary about an American shantytown, The Lost Hills Project.

Health Care, Health Care Debate, Jeff Deutchman, Obama Health Care

torrey

I am honestly confused by the goings on of the entire health care system, and deciphering this bill has proven difficult. I enjoyed reading what you had to say, simply said, and understandable! I too, have been wondering about all this “change” or lack thereof, and it seems that it really does have to be in baby steps sometimes…
Jim R

I share your ambivalence about the final product and find stark contrasts between it and the hope for significant change from the status quo when Obama was elected.

It’s possible I haven’t been quite as deflated due to viewing both Clinton and Obama as two sides of the same corporate coin from the start, light years ahead of any Republican choices to be sure but post-Buckley and now Citizens United inevitably compromised by the same powers that be.

There is no other issue worth talking about until we as a society ban private money from politics, and many of us predicted exactly that result when the horrid Rehnquist Court sold our Democracy out in 1976 as a payback for Watergate restrictions on Republicans suckling at the corporate teat.

Now both parties have to perform the double-jointed feat of taking self-preserving funds from the rich and powerful while making populist appeals to the left behind masses.

My dad used to say, “a Democrat will always do less harm to the working man by accident than a Republican will on purpose”, it’s not as true anymore.
AmericanCowboy

The new Healthcare is very exciting. We will get to pay higher taxes for the next four years until it kicks in. Then we get to depend on the government to make many of our important healthcare decision for us. Like do I really need that surgery or can the government save money by just feeding me pain killers? I want to be left out of those types of decisions and now thanks to Obama I will be. There will be wonderful cuts to senior programs. We don’t need those old people around anyway. Since many of the doctors won’t want to take the pay cut now that the government tells the doctors how much they can charge those well trained doctors will leave the industry and be replaced by overseas doctors trained for 6 whole months in colleges we have never heard. It will only take 9 months for the appointment but that is OK because the quality of healthcare will be much worse. We will have lots more people to covered so we can look forward to reading more mags in the waiting rooms of America. Also since all other socialized programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid have gone so far over budget and have gone bankrupt so we have that to look forward too.